The Reason
by Gardenia1786
Summary: Short JessieKatie Christmas fic...
1. Chapter 1

_The Reason_

Author: Gardenia1786 (Chloe)

Rating: PGish, maybe PG-13. It all depends on how much you get out.

Summery: Just a quick little fic about Christmas, Jessie/Katie style. I am a sap, so this is going to be filled with sweet romance and fluff (ok, so that was redundant, so what?)

Disclaimer: As much as I wish they did, these characters don't belong to me, they belong to ABC and all those folks. Bummer, ain't it?

Feedback: YES PLEASE! Gardenia1786 note: A quick, completely random fic, simply because I'm in the holiday mood right now (even though it is still November). And yes, I know, I have ADHD when it comes to writing. Heh, lets see how many fics I can keep up with at once:-D If I can count (and I believe I can) this'll make 3, but as far as I'm concerned, this is a one, maybe two part fic. So I will be continuing the others (No worries, ya'll. More parts are coming soon, I promise!)

Warning: FLUFF ENSUES:)

Enjoy!

un-beta'd as usual.

"I just love Christmas, don't you? All the sights, the smells, the snow, the snowball fights" Jessie grinned

"Spending time with friends, family, and loved ones" Jessie blushed.

"Fixing Christmas dinner, baking cookies, and most importantly, time off school! I just all around love Christmas!" Katie said as she grabbed her girlfriend's arm. Jessie smiled up at her. She thought Katie was the cutest thing ever.

"You need to help me pick out and put up our Christmas tree, ok? Both my parents are always too busy or working and my brothers don't come home from college till right before Christmas, so always end up doing it by myself, and thats just no fun, you know? So what do you say, will you help me?"

"Of course I will!" Jessie said as she leaned over and gave Katie a peck on the mouth. Katie grinned like an idiot.

"What was that for?" Jessie smiled as they sat down on the swing outside to watch the snow fall and Katie put her arm around Jessie.

"For just being you."

"Well, remind me to be me more often then."

"Heh, you're funny." Jessie replied, playfully swatting Katie's arm.

"Isn't that my lot in life? I aim to please." Katie said as she pretended to rub her arm like it hurt, and Jessie laughed.

"But you never answered my question." Katie said, half growing serious. "Don't you love Christmas too?" Jessie grinned up at her.

"I do now." Katie was a bit confused.

"You didn't before?" Jessie rested her head on Katie's shoulder.

"I used to love it, it was one of my favorite holidays, but after my parents got their divorce, and dad married Lily, I began to despise it. Having to go to two different houses to celebrate Christmas, and the first year or so when Grace and I were always at each other's throats, well, it was just tough. I remember when I was younger Eli used to wake me up, and together we'd sneak into our parent's room and wake them up then go down and open presents. I kind of miss that now days, cause Eli is so much older, and it would be kind of weird to sneak into dad and Lily's room, and it's just sad to sneak into mom's room and find her all alone." Katie rubbed Jessie's back, realizing how tough it must be for her because of her parent's divorce, even though it had been a couple of years. Katie couldn't imagine her parents being divorced.

"So why do you love Christmas now?" Jessie smiled up at her.

"Isn't it obvious?" Katie kind of shrugged. "You." Jessie said, beaming up at her. Katie just melted. She knew she loved Jessie, but she didn't really realize how much she actually meant to Jessie. She continued.

"You're the reason I enjoy Christmas now. You're the reason that I'm happy. You're the reason that I no longer feel like I need to starve myself so that I'll feel thin and pretty." Jessie stopped and looked into Katie's eyes.

"You're my reason to live." Both Jessie and Katie started to tear up a bit then. Katie had never felt so much love and awe towards one person before. And for once in her life, Katie was at a loss for words. Jessie looked away shyly when Katie didn't respond.

"I'm sorry, if this is too soon or something, maybe I shouldn't have said anything..." but she was interrupted with Katie's lips on her own.

"Jess, just give me a second, ok? I was just totally overcome by what you just said. No one has ever said anything like that to me before, and I was just shocked. I had no idea that you felt that way about me." Jessie blushed and turned away, but Katie put her hand on Jessie's cheek and turned her face back towards her.

"I'm not finished yet." She took a deep breath. "I want you to know that I feel the same way about you." She cupped Jessie's face in her hands. "Jessie, I love you." Right then, Jessie completely melted.

"I love you too." And Katie leaned in and placed the softest, yet most passionate kiss they'd ever shared, on Jessie's lips. After they parted, reluctantly but they didn't want to get caught by someone coming home at an inopportune moment, they decided to go inside and bake cookies, but not before Katie went out to her car to 'get something.'

Jessie waited for her on the porch, and after what seemed like forever, Katie reappeared, carrying something that Jessie couldn't quite make out. But before she knew it, a while ball of snow was being hurled at her. She reacted fairly quickly, but her reflexes weren't fast enough. The snowball hit her on the neck and dripped down her shirt. She quickly cleaned the cold water off herself, then turned to look at Katie who was laughing hysterically out in the front yard.

"You asked for it now, Singer!" She yelled as she ran down the steps into the snow, and made a snowball. She formed one in record time, but sadly, so did Katie. Jessie threw hers at Katie, who promptly ducked, and tossed her's up and at Jessie, who not paying quite enough attention, didn't notice where it went until it landed on her head. Jessie squealed, and was doubly determined to get Katie back. She made another snowball, and when she threw it, it hit her intended target, right in the face.

"Alright, alright. Truce?" Katie said as she put on her most charming face. Jessie walked over to her with a mischievous grin on her face and put her arms around Katie's neck... then plunged her freshly packed snowball down Katie's back. Katie promptly let out a small scream as the frozen water touched the warm skin on her back, and Jessie took off running.

"Truce!" She called behind her. She stopped at the front door. "Come on, let's bake cookies!" And walked inside, leaving a very cold and wet, yet very happy Katie outside cleaning off the back of her shirt.

TBC? I donno, it all depends if I'm in the Christmas spirit anytime soon. Who knows, there may be another part sometime before Christmas, but for now, consider this the ending! Hope ya'll enjoyed it!

Let me know!

Merry Christmas, ya'll!

Fic: The Reason (2/2)

Author: Gardenia1786 (Chloe)

Rating: PG at the most.

Disclaimer: Yep, that's right, as much as I wish I did, I STILL don't own them.

Feedback: Yes, as always. Feedback Fics. So let me know! So yeah, I watched It's A Wonderful Life last night, so you'll see some stuff from that later on.

Dedication: Yep, now I've discovered the wonders of dedications... so this one has to go out to Atkinfind and all the other awesome people out there who send me the wonderful feedback (in case you haven't noticed, I love feedback ;-).

As always, un-beta'd

"Katie? When was the last time you came up here" Jessie asked, referring to the attic and pointing to the dust and grime covering all of the boxes.

"Uhhh... I'm thinking last Christmas... no wait... I think we have some Easter stuff I put out. Now where are all the ornaments? I could have sworn I put them right here..." Katie said as she moved some boxes around. She was bent over, seeing as being as tall as she was if she stood, her head would hit the ceiling... which wasn't a good thing, considering there were roofing nails sticking through. She learned when she was young that hitting those things with your head was not a good thing. She still had the scar to prove it.

"Sheesh, you guys sure are major pack rats." Jessie looked around at all of the boxes. There had to be at least a hundred up there in that little space. Katie laughed good-naturedly.

"You should see the garage. Most people park their cars in a garage, but not us. Nope, we Singers can't do anything the same way as normal people." She put an emphasis on 'normal' because, as everyone knew, she was known from not being normal at all.

"Yep yep yep, it's covered in boxes and junk. And dad's tools, which I swear he doesn't know how to use half of them. Heh, a couple of weeks ago we made a path so that I could get everything down. Oh the fun times." Jessie smirked.

"So have you found them yet?" She asked as she tapped her foot jokingly.

"Hmmm... not yet, you're royal highness." Katie sarcastically spouted, which earned her a playful shove from Jessie, which happened to push her right into the box she needed.

"Ah-hah! Here it is." She said as she triumphantly picked up the box and walked over to a grinning Jessie.

"See? What would you ever do without me?" She played as she pecked Katie on the lips.

"Heh, not much, babe. Not much." And with that they climbed down the ladder.

"Hey, Katie? Isn't... ummm... unusual to get the ornaments down before you have a tree?" The thought hadn't really occurred to Katie, probably because her mind was always a little foggy when Jessie was around.

"Oh, yeah... tree..." She said absentmindedly. "That would kinda be good... wouldn't it?" Jessie laughed.

"Yeah, it would, Einstein"

"Umm, ok. Wanna go get a tree with me?" Katie said with a sheepish smile.

"Heh, yeah. I'd like nothing better." Jessie hooked her arm with Katie's and they made their way out of the house.

"What do you think of this one?" Katie said as she pointed at a rather tall, but very nicely shaped tree. Jessie scrunched her nose and shook her head.

"Awww, why not?" Katie fussed.

"Because, it's too tall for your house! It wouldn't even fit in the door, much less on top of the car!" Katie just shrugged.

"But I like it!" She whined good naturedly. Jessie rolled her eyes and pulled Katie over to a section of trees that were short enough.

"And I like you, but babe, that tree is way too tall. How 'bout this one?" Jessie asked pointing to a rather small tree sitting in the corner. Now it was Katie's turn to scrunch up her nose and shake her head.

"What?" Jessie asked, "It's perfect." Katie just laughed and ruffled Jessie's hair.

"Umm... Jess, you're perfect... but that tree isn't. It wouldn't hold half our ornaments." Jessie crossed her arms.

"Fine." She said with a playful huff, before they both broke out laughing. They walked through the rest of the tree lot, and almost gave up before Jessie turned around. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw the most perfect tree standing all by itself in the corner.

Katie turned around, having lost her girlfriend, and saw Jessie just standing there staring. She followed her gaze to the tree, and her mouth fell open. She walked over to join her girlfriend and put her arm around Jessie's waist.

"It's... wonderful." Jessie breathed.

"Magnificent." Katie added as she nodded.

"No... I think we should just cut the rope and let it fall." Katie stated.

Jessie shook her head. "If you do that, the limbs may crack, or even break off. No, that won't work. Someone will just have to stand under it to catch it while the other cuts it off." She said as she grinned at Katie.

Katie grimaced. "I guess that means I'm the one who gets to catch it, eh?" Jessie smiled innocently.

"Well, I'm so small, I'm liable to get squashed. And then what would you do? Hmmm?" Katie laughed at her girlfriend. She was just too adorable sometimes.

"Ok, ok, point taken. I'll stand there. Do you have some scissors?" Jessie nodded.

"Well, that wasn't too bad" Katie stated as they stood back and looked at the tree that they had just set up. Jessie nodded in agreement.

"Now comes the fun part... the lights."

It actually didn't take them too long to get all of it together. They had to replace a few bulbs here and there, but over all it wasn't very hard.

"Katie, stand right there and hold this." Jessie said as she handed Katie one end of the string of lights she was holding. She then made her way around Katie, wrapping her with the lights

"What are you doing?" Katie asked, and Jessie just laughed.

"There." She stated, after she had completely wrapped Katie up from head to toe in lights.

"Heh, ok Jess, you've had your fun... now can you please untie me so we can put these on the tree?" Jessie smiled at her mischievously and shook her head.

"Naw, I actually kind of like you like this. You look so cute... nope, that doesn't even do you justice." Jessie said as she became serious.

"You're beautiful." She whispered as she leaned up and softly captured Katie's lips with her own.

"Ok, lights... check." Katie stated as she stared at the tree. "Now comes my favorite part... the ornaments." Jessie tilted her head as she stared at her girlfriend.

"Favorite, huh?"

"Yep, they're all memories. Everytime we took a family trip, or any special occasion, we always got an ornament to put on the tree so we could remember it." Katie said as she pulled the box over to where she was sitting. "Take this one for example." She picked up a small ornament of a girl with a softball uniform on and holding a baseball bat. "This is from when I was 14 and on a softball team. I was their star hitter. Mom gave this to me after we won the league championships." She put that one on the tree and picked up another one, this time it was glass ball with the nation's capital etched on it. She laughed a little "This one was from the fourth time we went to D.C. and I was 12... we went with some of our old friends. Anyways, mom got this one at the capital gift shop after we nearly got kicked out."

Jessie's eyes got big and she started laughing. "Kicked out? Why am I not surprised..." Katie laughed and playfully swatted Jessie.

"Har har, very funny. For your information it was because I fell asleep on mom's shoulder. Apparently they have a rule against that or something."

Katie told the history behind several others as they put them up on the tree, and for the first time, Jessie realized how little she really knew about Katie. With every ornament, Katie had a story, and through that, Jessie got to look into Katie's life before her, and it was wonderful.

About an hour later, they had finished putting all the ornaments on the tree, and they both sat back and enjoyed the look of the tree. It was getting dark, so when Katie turned the lights off, the only thing providing light was the tree. Katie moved the table out of the middle of the room, and they laid down and stared at the tree.

"It's... beautiful." was all Jessie could think to say. She'd decorated many a tree in her time, but nothing like this... this was special... very special. Because it was Katie's life.

"Yes, it is." Katie simply stated, looking directly at Jessie, who blushed.

"You know I love you, right?" Katie paused for a moment.

"Yes, but it never hurts to be reminded."

"I love you, Katie."

"I love you too, Jessie." And they kissed, an affirmation of the love they felt in their hearts.

Christmas evening

"Jess? Can you come over in a bit?" Katie asked into the phone.

"Umm... I think so... we've finished about everything here. I'll go tell them I'm heading out. Give me about a half hour."

A half hour later Jessie walked through the snow and up the freshly shoveled sidewalk to Katie's house. She rang the doorbell, and a moment later her girlfriend greeted her.

"Hey Billie." She said as she leaned over for a kiss. "Merry Christmas."

"Mmmm... Merry Christmas to you too."

And for a few moments, they just stood there taking in the beauty of the other. Jessie, in her stocking cap pulled down to just above her eyes, with her curled hair flowing from under the cap, and rosy windblown cheeks, and Katie with her hair draped about her shoulders over her red, long sleeve top, and a sparkle in her mossy green eyes.

"Come in." She said, after finding her voice. Jess smiled and thanked her as she walked inside and took off her hat. In the corner stood the Christmas tree, the story of Katie's life.

"Where are your parents?" Jessie asked and Katie shrugged.

"I think they went out to visit some people. Who knows." A small grin crept across Jessie's face as she moved closer to her girlfriend and enveloped her in a tight hug. Jessie looked up into Katie's eyes, and saw only a look of love pouring out of them. She reached up and placed a small kiss on Katie's lips. Katie leaned down into Jessie and intensified the kiss, never wanting it to end. Moments later, they both pulled away and Katie rested her forehead on Jessie's while looking into her clear blue eyes, and smiled.

"Nice to see you too..." Katie said as she took Jessie's hand and lead her over to the tree.

"Come on, Christmas presents time!" She announced, and Jessie just grinned. Katie led her over to a stack of 3 presents sitting under the tree. "Ta-da!" She said as she pointed to them. Jessie's eyes got big.

"For me?" She uttered, barely audible, and Katie nodded her head with a big grin on her face. Jessie went over to where she had laid her coat down, and removed two small packages and handed them to Katie. Katie pecked her on the cheek, and motioned for her to open one first. Jessie went over and picked up the largest package, and as she did, her head hit a small bell (which Katie had told her they had gotten at Santa's village at Holiday World, somewhere in Indiana).

"You know what they say about bells, right?" Jessie looked at her strangely and Katie continued.

"Ever time a bell rings, and angel gets his wings."

"I think I've heard that before..."

"Way to go, Clarence!" Katie spouted, earning her another strange look from Jessie.

"Oh, never mind. Just open your present." Jessie eagerly ripped away the paper, revealing a brown box. She opened that, only to find another smaller rapped box. She looked over at Katie, who was smirking at her as she ripped off that layer and opened that box, only to reveal yet another smaller rapped box. She proceeded to do this three more times, till she got to a rather small, rectangular, rather fancy box. Like something you'd get at a jewelry store, which is exactly where Katie had gotten it. Jessie opened the box, and gasped as she saw one of the most beautiful charm bracelets she'd ever seen before. But it wasn't any normal charm bracelet, this one already had several charms on it. She looked at each one as Katie explained.

"See, I had this idea awhile ago, and I thought I'd surprise you with it. Each charm represents something special that happened between us." Katie lifted the bracelet out and started explaining each one.

"This one represents the letter I wrote you," pointing to the pen charm "and this one is from the school play," pointing to the poodle skirt she had somehow managed to find. She listed off several others, each representing a major point in their relationship.

Jessie leaned over and hugged Katie. "You have no idea how much this means to me... really." Katie beamed up at her and kissed her cheek. "I have an idea..." Jessie just smiled.

"Ok, you're turn now. Here, open this one." She said as she handed Katie one of her presents.

Katie eagerly tore open the paper only to reveal a photograph of them taken a few weeks ago. They were sitting outside on her wooden swing and Katie had her arm around Jessie. Jessie had her arm around Katie's waist and had laid her head on Katie's shoulder. It was a candid shot, they were watching something in the distance, both laughing at whatever it was. Jessie knew it was one of Katie's favorite pictures, and she wanted her to have it.

"Oh Jess..." Katie breathed. "It's... wonderful!" Jessie grinned at her. "I thought you may like that..."

Katie smiled over at her again, and picked up Jessie's next present. "Here, this one's next."

Jessie took it and playfully shook it for a few seconds. After not hearing anything she frowned and set it down. This time she carefully opened the wrapping paper, because she knew it would drive Katie crazy. Katie's philosophy was that it was trash anyways, and one shouldn't spend their time trying to open it carefully. Jessie looked over at her after a moment, and Katie was scowling. Jessie just laughed and went back to her task at hand. She could tell by the shape of the present that it was a CD, and wasn't really surprised at which CD it was when she opened it.

"Billie Holiday, love songs" She read. "Awww, how sweet!" She said as she flipped it over to look at the track listing.

"Heh, of course it has God Bless the Child, Billie, you don't think I'd get one of her CDs without it, do you?"

Jessie grinned. "I guess not."

Katie looked her in the eye, "I was listening to it the other day and though of you for some reason."

"Hmmm... I wonder why." Jessie remarked playfully as she picked up her last present to Katie and handed it to her. Katie followed Jessie's previous action and shook it, only to be surprised at the fact that this one rattled.

"Hey look, you broke it!" Jessie teased. Katie ripped away the wrapping paper and revealed one of the small Hallmark ornament boxes. On the cover it showed a picture of a small white flower. As Katie looked closer, she saw that it was a white gardenia. She opened the box and pulled it out.

"Jess, it's beautiful!"

"I remember how you have an ornament for every special occasion." Jessie said shyly. "I just wanted you to have a little memento of our relationship to go up on the tree." Katie gave Jessie a quick peck on the lips as she handed her the final present.

Jessie wasted no time in ripping open the paper this time. Inside was another ornament box, similar to the one she had just given Katie, except on the cover it showed an ornament that doubled as a small picture holder. Katie motioned for her to open that box as well, so she did. Inside was the little ornament, with a picture of her and Katie inside.

"I didn't see why my tree was the only one that should have memories on it." Jessie leaned over and placed a tender kiss on Katie's lips. As they broke apart, Katie looked outside.

"Hey, look! It's snowing again." Jessie turned and looked. She could barely make out the snowflakes falling by the street lights. She yawned.

"The perfect ending to a perfect day." She said as she curled up next to Katie.

"Yes, my love, it is. It truly is."

The End

As always, let me know what you think! Remember, feedback is a very good thing!


	2. Chapter 2

Katie? When was the last time you came up here?" Jessie asked,

referring to the attic and pointing to the dust and grime covering

all of the boxes.

"Uhhh... I'm thinking last Christmas... no wait... I think we have

some Easter stuff I put out. Now where are all the ornaments? I could

have sworn I put them right here..." Katie said as she moved some

boxes around. She was bent over, seeing as being as tall as she was

if she stood, her head would hit the ceiling... which wasn't a good

thing, considering there were roofing nails sticking through. She

learned when she was young that hitting those things with your head

was not a good thing. She still had the scar to prove it.

"Sheesh, you guys sure are major pack rats." Jessie looked around at

all of the boxes. There had to be at least a hundred up there in that

little space. Katie laughed good-naturedly.

"You should see the garage. Most people park their cars in a garage,

but not us. Nope, we Singers can't do anything the same way as

*normal* people." She put an emphasis on 'normal' because, as

everyone knew, she was known from not being normal at all.

"Yep yep yep, it's covered in boxes and junk. And dad's tools, which

I swear he doesn't know how to use half of them. Heh, a couple of

weeks ago we made a path so that I could get everything down. Oh the

fun times." Jessie smirked.

"So have you found them yet?" She asked as she tapped her foot

jokingly.

"Hmmm... not yet, you're royal highness." Katie sarcastically

spouted, which earned her a playful shove from Jessie, which happened

to push her right into the box she needed.

"Ah-hah! Here it is." She said as she triumphantly picked up the box

and walked over to a grinning Jessie.

"See? What would you ever do without me?" She played as she pecked

Katie on the lips.

"Heh, not much, babe. Not much." And with that they climbed down the

ladder.

"Hey, Katie? Isn't... ummm... a little unusual to get the ornaments

down before you have a tree?" The thought hadn't really occurred to

Katie, probably because her mind was always a little foggy when

Jessie was around.

"Oh, yeah... tree..." She said absentmindedly. "That would kinda be

good... wouldn't it?" Jessie laughed.

"Yeah, it would, Einstein"

"Umm, ok. Wanna go get a tree with me?" Katie said with a sheepish

smile.

"Heh, yeah. I'd like nothing better." Jessie hooked her arm with

Katie's and they made their way out of the house.

"What do you think of this one?" Katie said as she pointed at a

rather tall, but very nicely shaped tree. Jessie scrunched her nose

and shook her head.

"Awww, why not?" Katie fussed.

"Because, it's too tall for your house! It wouldn't even fit in the

door, much less on top of the car!" Katie just shrugged.

"But I like it!" She whined good naturedly. Jessie rolled her eyes

and pulled Katie over to a section of trees that were short enough.

"And I like you, but babe, that tree is way too tall. How 'bout this

one?" Jessie asked pointing to a rather small tree sitting in the

corner. Now it was Katie's turn to scrunch up her nose and shake her

head.

"What?" Jessie asked, "It's perfect." Katie just laughed and ruffled

Jessie's hair.

"Umm... Jess, you're perfect... but that tree isn't. It wouldn't hold

half our ornaments." Jessie crossed her arms.

"Fine." She said with a playful huff, before they both broke out

laughing. They walked through the rest of the tree lot, and almost

gave up before Jessie turned around. Her breath caught in her throat

as she saw the most perfect tree standing all by itself in the corner.

Katie turned around, having lost her girlfriend, and saw Jessie just

standing there staring. She followed her gaze to the tree, and her

mouth fell open. She walked over to join her girlfriend and put her

arm around Jessie's waist.

"It's... wonderful." Jessie breathed.

"Magnificent." Katie added as she nodded.

"No... I think we should just cut the rope and let it fall." Katie

stated.

Jessie shook her head. "If you do that, the limbs may crack, or even

break off. No, that won't work. Someone will just have to stand under

it to catch it while the other cuts it off." She said as she grinned

at Katie.

Katie grimaced. "I guess that means I'm the one who gets to catch it,

eh?" Jessie smiled innocently.

"Well, I'm so small, I'm liable to get squashed. And then what would

you do? Hmmm?" Katie laughed at her girlfriend. She was just too

adorable sometimes.

"Ok, ok, point taken. I'll stand there. Do you have some scissors?"

Jessie nodded.

"Well, that wasn't too bad" Katie stated as they stood back and

looked at the tree that they had just set up. Jessie nodded in

agreement.

"Now comes the fun part... the lights."

It actually didn't take them too long to get all of it together. They

had to replace a few bulbs here and there, but over all it wasn't

very hard.

"Katie, stand right there and hold this." Jessie said as she handed

Katie one end of the string of lights she was holding. She then made

her way around Katie, wrapping her with the lights

"What are you doing?" Katie asked, and Jessie just laughed.

"There." She stated, after she had completely wrapped Katie up from

head to toe in lights.

"Heh, ok Jess, you've had your fun... now can you please untie me so

we can put these on the tree?" Jessie smiled at her mischievously and

shook her head.

"Naw, I actually kind of like you like this. You look so cute...

nope, that doesn't even do you justice." Jessie said as she became

serious.

"You're beautiful." She whispered as she leaned up and softly

captured Katie's lips with her own.

"Ok, lights... check." Katie stated as she stared at the tree. "Now

comes my favorite part... the ornaments." Jessie tilted her head as

she stared at her girlfriend.

"Favorite, huh?"

"Yep, they're all memories. Everytime we took a family trip, or any

special occasion, we always got an ornament to put on the tree so we

could remember it." Katie said as she pulled the box over to where

she was sitting. "Take this one for example." She picked up a small

ornament of a girl with a softball uniform on and holding a baseball

bat. "This is from when I was 14 and on a softball team. I was their

star hitter. Mom gave this to me after we won the league

championships." She put that one on the tree and picked up another

one, this time it was glass ball with the nation's capital etched on

it. She laughed a little "This one was from the fourth time we went

to D.C. and I was 12... we went with some of our old friends.

Anyways, mom got this one at the capital gift shop after we nearly

got kicked out."

Jessie's eyes got big and she started laughing. "Kicked out? Why am I

not surprised..." Katie laughed and playfully swatted Jessie.

"Har har, very funny. For your information it was because I fell

asleep on mom's shoulder. Apparently they have a rule against that or

something."

Katie told the history behind several others as they put them up on

the tree, and for the first time, Jessie realized how little she

really knew about Katie. With every ornament, Katie had a story, and

through that, Jessie got to look into Katie's life before her, and it

was wonderful.

About an hour later, they had finished putting all the ornaments on

the tree, and they both sat back and enjoyed the look of the tree. It

was getting dark, so when Katie turned the lights off, the tree

illuminated the room. Katie moved the table out of the middle of the

room, and they laid down and stared at the tree.

"It's... beautiful." was all Jessie could think to say. She'd

decorated many a tree in her time, but nothing like this... this was

special... very special. Because it was Katie's life.

"Yes, it is." Katie simply stated, looking directly at Jessie, who

blushed.

"You know I love you, right?" Jessie asked and Katie paused for a

moment.

"Yes, but it never hurts to be reminded."

"I love you, Katie."

"I love you too, Jessie." And they kissed, an affirmation of the love

they felt in their hearts.

~*~Christmas evening~*~

"Jess? Can you come over in a bit?" Katie asked into the phone.

"Umm... I think so... we've finished about everything here. I'll go

tell them I'm heading out. Give me about a half hour."

A half hour later Jessie walked through the melting snow and up the

freshly shoveled sidewalk to Katie's house. She rang the doorbell,

and a moment later her girlfriend greeted her.

"Hey Billie." She said as she leaned over for a kiss. "Merry

Christmas."

"Mmmm... Merry Christmas to you too."

And for a few moments, they just stood there taking in the beauty of

the other. Jessie, lookin adorable in her stocking cap pulled down to

just above her eyes, with her curled hair flowing from under the cap,

and rosy windblown cheeks, and Katie, beautiful as always, with her

hair draped about her shoulders over her red, long sleeve top, and a

sparkle in her mossy green eyes.

"Come in." She said, after finding her voice. Jess smiled and thanked

her as she walked inside and took off her hat. In the corner stood

the Christmas tree, the story of Katie's life.

"Where are your parents?" Jessie asked and Katie shrugged.

"I think they went out to visit some people. Who knows." A small grin

crept across Jessie's face as she moved closer to her girlfriend and

enveloped her in a tight hug. Jessie looked up into Katie's eyes, and

saw only a look of love pouring out of them. She reached up and

placed a small kiss on Katie's lips. Katie leaned down into Jessie

and intensified the kiss, exploring every inch of Jessie's mouth and

never wanting it to end. Moments later, they both pulled away out of

breath and Katie rested her forehead on Jessie's while looking into

her clear blue eyes, and smiled.

"Nice to see you too..." Katie said as she took Jessie's hand and

lead her over to the tree.

"Come on, Christmas presents time!" She announced, and Jessie just

grinned. Katie led her over to a stack of 3 presents sitting under

the tree. "Ta-da!" She said as she pointed to them. Jessie's eyes got

big.

"For me?" She uttered, barely audible, and Katie nodded her head with

a big grin on her face. Jessie went over to where she had laid her

coat down, and removed two small packages and put them down next to

her. Katie pecked her on the cheek, and motioned for her to open one

first. Jessie went over and picked up the largest package, and as she

did, her head hit a small bell (which Katie had told her they had

gotten at Santa's village at Holiday World, somewhere in Indiana).

"You know what they say about bells, right?" Jessie looked at her

strangely and Katie continued.

"Ever time a bell rings, and angel gets his wings."

"I think I've heard that before..."

"Way to go, Clarence!" Katie spouted, earning her another strange

look from Jessie.

"Oh, never mind. Just open your present." Jessie eagerly ripped away

the paper, revealing a brown box. She opened that, only to find

another smaller rapped box. She looked over at Katie, who was

smirking at her as she ripped off that layer and opened that box,

only to reveal yet another smaller rapped box. She proceeded to do

this three more times, till she got to a rather small, rectangular,

fancy box. Like something you'd get at a jewelry store, which is

exactly where Katie had gotten it. Jessie opened the box, and gasped

as she saw one of the most beautiful charm bracelets she'd ever seen

before. But it wasn't any normal charm bracelet, this one already had

several charms on it. She looked at each one as Katie explained.

"See, I had this idea awhile ago, and I thought I'd surprise you with

it. Each charm represents something special that happened between

us." Katie lifted the bracelet out and started explaining each one.

"This one represents the letter I wrote you," pointing to the pen

charm "and this one is from the school play," pointing to the poodle

skirt she had somehow managed to find. She listed off several others,

each representing a major point in their relationship.

Jessie leaned over and hugged Katie. "You have no idea how much this

means to me... really." Katie beamed up at her and kissed her

cheek. "I have an idea..." Jessie just smiled.

"Ok, you're turn now. Here, open this one." She said as she handed

Katie one of her presents.

Katie eagerly tore open the paper only to reveal a framed photograph

of them taken a few weeks ago. They were sitting outside on her

wooden swing and Katie had her arm around Jessie. Jessie had her arm

around Katie's waist and had laid her head on Katie's shoulder. It

was a candid shot, they were watching something in the distance, both

laughing at whatever it was. Jessie knew it was one of Katie's

favorite pictures, and she wanted her to have it.

"Oh Jess..." Katie breathed. "It's... wonderful!"

Jessie grinned at her. "I thought you may like that..."

Katie smiled over at her again, and picked up Jessie's next

present. "Here, this one's next."

Jessie took it and playfully shook it for a few seconds. After not

hearing anything she frowned and set it down. This time she carefully

opened the wrapping paper, because she knew it would drive Katie

crazy. Katie's philosophy was that it was trash anyways, and one

shouldn't spend their time trying to open it carefully. Jessie looked

over at her after a moment, and Katie was scowling. Jessie just

laughed and went back to her task at hand. She could tell by the

shape of the present that it was a CD, and wasn't really surprised at

which CD it was when she opened it.

"Billie Holiday, love songs" She read. "Awww, how sweet!" She said as

she flipped it over to look at the track listing.

"Heh, of course it has God Bless the Child, Billie, you don't think

I'd get one of her CDs without it, do you?"

Jessie grinned. "I guess not."

Katie looked her in the eye, "I was listening to it the other day and

though of you for some reason."

"Hmmm... I wonder why." Jessie remarked playfully as she picked up

her last present to Katie and handed it to her. Katie followed

Jessie's previous action and shook it, only to be surprised at the

fact that this one rattled.

"Hey look, you broke it!" Jessie teased. Katie ripped away the

wrapping paper and revealed one of the small Hallmark ornament boxes.

On the cover it showed a picture of a small white flower. As Katie

looked closer, she saw that it was a white gardenia. She opened the

box and pulled it out.

"Jess, it's beautiful!"

"I remember how you have an ornament for every special occasion."

Jessie said shyly. "I just wanted you to have a little memento of our

relationship to go up on the tree." Katie gave Jessie a quick peck on

the lips as she put the ornament on the tree and handed Jessie her

the final present.

Jessie wasted no time in ripping open the paper this time. Inside was

another ornament box, similar to the one she had just given Katie,

except on the cover it showed an ornament that doubled as a small

picture holder. Katie motioned for her to open that box as well, so

she did. Inside was the little ornament, with a picture of her and

Katie inside.

"I didn't see why my tree was the only one that should have memories

on it." Jessie leaned over and placed a tender kiss on Katie's lips.

As they broke apart, Katie looked outside.

"Hey, look! It's snowing again." Jessie turned and looked. She could

barely make out the snowflakes falling by the illumination of street

lights. She yawned.

"The perfect ending to a perfect day." She said as she curled up

against Katie.

"Yes, my love, it is. It truly is."


End file.
